Trust: A Demonheart Fanfiction
by Ember Ardent Flame
Summary: Oneshot submission for the Demonhearts Anonymous discord contest. - Raze x Snake Bright route with a twist: What if Rivera had trusted Ari just a little more? How much of a difference can something as simple as trust really make?


" _What a big difference trust can make,"_ I thought to myself. Perhaps Rivera had been a bit too trusting of her apprentice. And likewise, her apprentice had been too trusting of myself and Raze. Ari had led Raze and I right to Garden Two, the place where both Brash's heart and mine were stored. It was there that Raze betrayed me, stealing my heart and taking it for himself. But he left Brash's there, with an ominous warning that I knew what I needed to do, before he vanished again.

Right after he left, the portal opened, and Rivera stepped through with Brash in tow. She and Ari had a rather hefty lover's spat, during which Brash and I took the chance to rebel. I broke the promise I had made to Ari about keeping the hag alive. Infuriated and heartbroken, the apprentice rushed to kill me. Brash moved in to restrain her, and I had finished her off with my dagger. When Brash asked me about how we'd get back, I indicated the codes on her bracelet and pointed to the portal. With a smile, I told him, "It might take us a few tries, but I doubt she wrote down a deadly combination. You should have seen how neurotic she was on the trip here."

Brash took the bracelet and held it. Then he looked at the closet door. "They're in there, aren't they?"

I took a brief moment to act like a girl, for his benefit, chuckling nervously. "Pinkie promise me you won't betray me this time?" I raised my pinkie. No doubt, he thought this sweet, innocent side of me was something only he could awaken. It probably made him feel like a man. I had done what I needed to do during our trip here to make sure he believed that I was entranced with him.

He grimaced and interlocked his finger with mine, the cool metal and hard chain mail of his gauntlet a welcome relief from the heat and flesh-like squish of Inferno, even if only a short-lived one. "I promise, Kitten. Not ever again." His grimace became a lopsided grin as he misplaced his trust the same way Rivera had. In reality, he was naught but a perfect pawn. I granted him a reassuring smile and swung our hands together before dropping mine back to my side.

I had played my part well – so well, in fact, that I could understand why Raze _didn't_ trust me. I actually loved that Raze had taken my heart and threatened to use it against me. It was a grand gesture of respect for my intellect – a quality I found attractive in a lover. The only issue I had with it was that I actually _had_ been honest with Raze, and that my dishonesty with everyone else would make convincing him of it an annoying chore to deal with later.

I could see Brash hesitating. "Well Kitten... here we are. I can't believe I'm finally free from all of this. It's been a hell of a long time since Rivera made me into a demonheart. Of course... once I get my heart back, I can't really hang around Mace anymore." He makes no move to open the door. He turns and looks at me. "Hey Bright... listen. Me and you have been through a lot together, and we're both bound to be running from hunters for the rest of our lives, so... why don't we do it together? Evading death is much easier when you've got someone to watch your back." He eyed me nervously, and I remembered what I did to him in the poison room. I wondered if he remembered it too. And if he did remember, did he think it really happened, or did he chalk it up to a poisoned hallucination? "Bright... you know, I-"

"We can talk about that after," I answered impatiently. Moving toward the door, I pretended to try the handle, then frowned. "Brash... it's locked. The witch's corpse doesn't happen to have a key on her, does it?"

He seemed to be alarmed, but quickly went to search Rivera's body. I didn't give him a straight answer to his question, and he might have thought he had caught me trying to betray him. He probably thought that if he found the key first, then my attempt at betrayal wouldn't matter. He was probably trying to reassure himself that his precious kitten wouldn't do anything so treacherous. I almost pitied him.

The door wasn't locked at all. Raze had opened it from the inside when he had stolen my heart. He had left Brash's heart behind as a test of my loyalty. This wasn't exactly the type of situation where I could act against Raze's wishes and make it out alive. Ironically, I was now about to do to Brash exactly what he had done to me. The biggest difference was that Brash had needed Rivera's threats to push him to that point. I was willing to do this even without Raze's forceful coaxing.

I opened the door. I could hear Brash turning toward the sound. "No!" he shouted in disbelief. I could hear him rushing toward the door. But his skill was strength; mine was speed, and I had already gotten a head start. I picked up his beating heart and held it hostage with my dagger pressed near the right atrium. He stared at me, stunned, his black eye twitching angrily. "Kitten... that was not a smart thing to do." But he had stopped advancing.

" _Pay attention, Raze dear. The show is just getting interesting~."_ I called to my patron through the pendant, not wanting him to miss this.

"Relax, Brash. It's not you I want to kill, but your master. You can have this little trinket back if you tell me everything there is to know about Lord Mace being a demonheart." If lying was supposed to be a bad thing, then why did it feel so good?

"Mace? You intend to go after Mace? That guy will kill you without a second thought – he's already eaten enough hearts. Hell, he tried to do the same to me! I'm only still alive because Rivera made me heartless. And Mace is heartless too – he had Alonda killed just so no one would know where to find his. Not even **he** knows where it is." Brash looked hurt. He didn't want to believe that I would betray him. "We can't go after Mace. It's suicide, Bright! We have to get far away from him – go as far north as we can. He's a fucking hunter!"

"Are there any others?" The black organ still pulsed in my hand.

"Hunters? ...Or demonhearts?" It was almost painfully delicious, watching the hope fade from his eyes. "Damn it! You're a hunter too, aren't you? And I bet you don't plan on giving that back." I could hear the heartbreak in his voice. "Dammit, I loved you."

A sly grin crept across my face. "Why are you so surprised? You saw what happened to Mark, after all. And all he did was cheat on me and try to use me for political gain. He certainly didn't hand me over to a witch as a sacrifice. You deserve this, Brash."

His hands balled into fists. "Yeah, I suppose I do." He paused for a moment, his expression shifting into firm resolve. "But that doesn't mean I'm just going to let you do it!" Brash drew his sword and lunged.

Plunge – the dagger squelched into black flesh.

Thud – his body fell.

Clang - Brash's sword dropped from his hand as his corpse hit the floor.

" _Mhmmhmmmhmm."_

The most beautiful sound was the laughter in my head that didn't belong to me. I glanced at the heart impaled on my dagger, then down at Sir Brash's corpse, then back at the heart. _"I hate to interrupt your maniacal pleasure, darling, but... is there a certain way I should prepare this, or can I just take a bite?"_

Raze appeared at my back and hugged me from behind with one arm, using his free hand to pull the heart from the dagger and bring it to my lips. I took a bite. It tasted like iron and sulfur with a bit of a sour tang. "This is only the beginning," Raze cooed. "There will be more. And after that display, I can't wait to see how you handle the next one." Some blood oozed out onto his hand, and I licked it off. He chuckled appreciatively."Mmnm. Greedy little thing, aren't you?"

I licked my lips and smiled. "Do you think I did this entirely for _your_ sake? No, dear. I've been looking forward to this ever since you explained the plan. My whole life I've been a poor, powerless girl and no one ever bothered to teach me how to change that situation. You've been the only one to offer me something I truly desire." I took another bite just to hear him get excited about it.

Instead, he narrowed those brilliant blue eyes of his, peering down at me in suspicion as I leaned my head back onto his chest. "Power for power's sake is that much of a lure to you then?" He sounded nervous for some reason, and it made no sense to me.

I shrugged. "Well... not always. Depends on how fun my other options are. But, you seem to be both. Lucky you." I added through the pendant, _"Lucky me."_

For some reason, he pulled away, and I frowned. He seemed resolved about something as he turned his back to me. Voice dropping to that low, husky tone that he's always used to toy with me, he said, "It matters very little now, no? After all, it's not as if you have any other options." He turned to look at me with a triumphant smirk. "In case you've forgotten... I have your heart, Bright. You belong to me. You don't get the choice of betraying me... not if you want to live."

I crossed my arms over my chest, a little hurt. "So that's why you took it? I was hoping it had been out of concern for my well-being... or even just part of a plan to make sure I could harvest hearts with less risk. But you really just want to use it as a leash? That's... a little disappointing." I was okay with him taking it when I thought that this had only been a test. I was okay with him holding onto it as a means to make me invulnerable. But... I was not okay with the idea of his holding it over my head in perpetuity.

"Sorry to disappoint you," he snarled in a scalding tone that sounded anything but apologetic. "Oh, you may be a brilliant little manipulator, _Bright_. But I'm not dumb enough to fall for your tricks. I am not about to end up like this fool on the ground." He kicked Brash's chin.

He was starting to scare me, so I tried to make light of the situation to calm him down."Well... I mean it's not like you could anyway. Aren't you immort-?"

"Silence!" His rage made me wince. His eyes were two burning blue flames as he closed the distance between us and raised a hand to slap my face.

I stumbled back a bit, raising my hand to my stinging cheek. I met his eyes and returned his glare. Now it was _my_ turn to be angry. "What is the _matter_ with you? All of this... sudden hostility out of nowhere. And for no reason! Haven't I always jumped at the chance to do as you asked?"

His boiling anger slowed to a simmer. "Yes... you have. And it would have done you a service to be a bit more subtle. You've been too enthusiastic about everything from the start, always doing as I say and offering me whatever I want. It's too good to be true, to the point that your deception is transparent. But I'm not going to let you betray me, Bright. You are MINE!"

My hand lowered to my side, I balled it into a fist as I growled back, "And why shouldn't I have been? You were _right_ , from the start! The humans only wanted to use me for their own devices; I could see that. I didn't expect to have any friends among the people who _executed me!_ But you weren't like _them,_ and we were going to make them pay! I thought you were on my side... You said that I was your only friend in the world, and I also thought you were mine."

Raze's shoulders relaxed. His expression shifted from anger to something emotionless and unreadable. He opened his mouth in preparation to speak, but I cut him off.

"I suppose I thought wrong." My glare continued to hold his eyes – eyes that were now rimmed a little in shock. I felt my muscles twitch as I gained a small bit of Brash's strength. "I am not going to be some _thing_ to you, Raze. Some mere little... minion for you to boss around as you please. I refuse. If that makes you want to kill me, then do it. Get it over with! I would rather die on my own terms than live under yours."

He looked at me, perplexed, as though he hadn't considered the thought that I wouldn't be afraid of dying. Raze hesitated, his jaw trembling angrily. "...No. No. You are mine. You belong to me. This wasn't supposed to... you're not supposed to... Grrr! You... stubborn, infernal woman!" A voice that had started calm slowly grew more irate. "You're... you're still trying to trick me... aren't you? You think that I'm not serious! Well... it's fortunate for me that you are _almost_ as immortal as I am. With enough time, and... after enough torture, you will come to see things my way." He vanished and appeared behind me again, wrapping his arms around my waist. "Come, Bright," Raze sneered, gripping me tighter. "We're going to be spending lots of time together."

I struggled against him, but I wasn't strong enough. He pinned my arms to my side. "Raze... if you do this, you can consider our alliance forfeit. I will _never_ serve you if you go through with this."

His lips brushed against my ear as he whispered, "Yes... that's right. Now you're finally being honest with me. There's a good girl. Progressing so quickly. But I'm going to change your opinions of me. In time, you will be mine."

" _What a big difference trust can make,"_ I thought to myself with one last look at Brash's corpse before Raze spirited me away. _"...especially if the person you put it in doesn't have any at all."_


End file.
